Real Men Wear Pink!

Over 700 boys all wearing pink in the same building on the same day? Unthinkable! Yet, that is exactly what we in Moyle Park College do every year to raise funds for charity on Pink Day. Pink Day is a long standing tradition in Moyle Park College with fundraising efforts in previous years going to very worthwhile charities such as The Irish Breast Cancer Society and Aoibheann’s Pink Tie.

The cause for this year’s Pink Day was different and held a special place in the hearts of the Clondalkin community. The Pink Day Team decided to dedicate the day to a young local girl, Emily Duffy, who is currently battling neuroblastoma, a rare form of childhood cancer.

The Pink Day team comprised of twelve TY students and two First Year students, along with Ms. Lacey. They decided that this year Pink Day was going to be bigger and better than ever before! We set ourselves a target of raising €1000 for Princess Emily but could not have imagined the success that was to come. The team put in a mammoth amount of work in the lead up to the day, promoting the event by contacting various media outlets, setting up social media pages and putting posters up around the school. We organized spot prizes for the best dressed competition; contacting Bank of Ireland and Newlands Garden Centre to set up fundraising stands; organising guest speakers and judges; building a “Dunk the Teacher” stocks and baking an array of treats, not to mention transforming Ms. Cunningham’s room into pink perfection!

The day arrived before we knew it and there were so many activities to organize, such as a visit from social media guru James Kavanagh and Spin 1038, a crepe and waffle sale, a raffle, and a best-dressed competition judged by Olympic gold medalist Michael Carruth and award winning photographer Christian Tierney. Staff and students alike battled it out to be crowned the pinkest of them all. The title was rightfully awarded for the third year in a row to Eoin Maguire in 5th year who went above and beyond with his costume! Making sure she wasn’t outdone, Ms. Ellis who in winning the teacher competition gave a very fitting performance as a pink crayon for the day!

The highlight of the day however was undoubtedly the “Dunk The Teacher” event where Mr. Anderson, Mr. Connolly, Mr. Smith and Mr. O’Dowd all fell victim to the wet sponges of their merciless students. Nearly the whole school showed up to watch the event and it was one of the biggest earners of the day so thank you very much to each of the brave warriors who dared to get into the stocks.

The day passed in a whirlwind of pink with students digging deep to donate and the entire school community uniting in support of Emily. A special mention must go to Michael Afam in 5th year who wrote a beautiful poem in Emily’s honour. The end of the day came before we knew what had happened and yet, we still had money to count. Our final total came in at 4.45pm that evening and we were thrilled to say that we smashed our target by raising €2535 for Emily and her family. The money was donated to Emily and her family on the TY Graduation Night. The team also presented Emily with her special poem and a present of a fairy door from the Pink Day Committee.